FlyBox: A Flexible Open-Source Behavior Monitoring System

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the vast majority of circadian behavior in Drosophila has been recorded in Drosophila Activity Monitor (DAM) boards. Though simple and robust, locomotor behavior recording via DAM boards can be prohibitively expensive, especially when taking incubator costs into consideration. Furthermore, their simplicity limits their experimental options and resolution. Here, we present the FlyBox: a simple, open-source benchtop locomotor activity recording system. FlyBox was designed to monitor activity in animals loaded into a standard laboratory multi-well plate. It features light-tight construction and multiple programmable LEDs for simulating day/night cycles and optogenetic manipulation. In total, a single FlyBox costs approximately $750 to build and around two days of labor. In addition, we also present the FlyBoxScanner software to simplify activity monitoring while maintaining compatibility with DAM analysis software. FlyBox is an attractive and affordable package for behavior monitoring that also offers considerable room for customization. Materials and instructions for the FlyBox are available at https://github.com/Rosbash-Lab-FlyBox/FlyBox, and FlyBoxScanner is available at https://github.com/jose-elias-alvarez/flybox-scanner.